Ideas The bittersweet freedom to grieve in Syria
Jan 14, 2026
Ammar Azouz, an Oxford lecturer and architect, shares poignant memories of his lost friend Tahir, emphasizing the duty to remember. Jabir Bakr discusses the fig gardens project, where trees honor the disappeared and foster collective mourning. Nora Al-Jizawi recounts stories of revolutionaries and the agony of public grief being criminalized. Hassan Al-Khantar reflects on personal loss and the destruction of Suweda. Khabat Abbas highlights the ongoing grief in Rojava, paying tribute to his brother Zana, who fought against ISIS.
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Grief Was Deliberately Silenced
- Under Assad, public grieving was criminalized and memory was erased to deepen wounds and despair.
- Creating fig gardens and named trees transforms absence into living presence and restores social space for mourning.
Reclaiming Land And Conversation
- The regime engineered both ecological and social droughts to deepen control and silence communities.
- Planting fruit trees named for the departed simultaneously restores landscape and creates platforms for shared mourning.
A Friend Killed In His Own Street
- Ammar Azouz remembers his architecture school friend Tahir Sbaai, killed during a 2011 peaceful protest in Homs.
- He describes Tahir as shy, angelic, and memorializes him because the university never acknowledged the killing.
